<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Shelter by Apollo Veilleuse (ApolloGeek27)</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24924094">Shelter</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApolloGeek27/pseuds/Apollo%20Veilleuse'>Apollo Veilleuse (ApolloGeek27)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Friends - Lucia Berlin, Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bullying, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Near Death Experiences, Rescue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:28:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,484</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24924094</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApolloGeek27/pseuds/Apollo%20Veilleuse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Unknown to them all, this encounter would change all of their lives.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Loretta &amp; Anna, Loretta &amp; Anna &amp; Sam, Sam &amp; Anna</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Shelter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This work is part of a writing prompt.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><b>Loretta met Anna and Sam the day she saved Sam’s life.</b> It was just like any other day for Loretta, walking down the forest trail to the lake so she could go for her daily swim. Up ahead the trees began to spread out creating an opening, allowing Loretta to see the lake in all its glory. </p><p>         Loretta had a slight smile on her face as she stared at the shimmering blue-green water in front of her, memories of swimming in the lake with her long-departed father coming to mind. She could almost see the giant grin on his face as he grabbed her from the land and swung her into the lake, blue and green obscuring her vision as she allowed the water to drag her into its depths before relinquishing its grip on her and allowing her to float to the surface, her face splashing out from the lake as she then proceed to curse at the laughing figure on the shore.</p><p>          Those days were gone now, as her father had passed away sometime ago from an illness of the body. Nowadays, Loretta would come to the lake alone, swimming in the cool and refreshing water as a remembrance to the life and joy her father ignited to all those who held him dear. </p><p>          Loretta dropped her bag to the floor and began to take off her clothes slowly with no concern to there being anyone in the vicinity. Rarely did anyone come to the lake in the afternoon, especially in the chilly month of April. Just as she was about to slip into the cool water, a yell came from her left.</p><p>           Loretta flinched at the sound and quickly turned her head to the direction of the yell, her head spinning a little at how fast she turned. In some distance away from her as far as her eye can see, there appeared a thin girl hovering over the collapsed form of a pale boy at the shore of the lake.</p><p>           Loretta began to run towards the pair, concern and worry overtaking her previous relaxed and calm state. As she neared the pair, she could see that both children were wearing wet school uniforms, which was unusual. A feeling of dread began to churn her stomach, thoughts of her time as a bullied child came to the forefront of her mind. </p><p>          Loretta could remember the cruelties that happened to her at the age. She could almost taste the metallic tang of blood on her tongue as another student would punch her in the face, could almost feel her chest ache as purple and red bruises were painted on her skin, could almost hear the jeers and mocking laughter of children behind her back. There was an edge of danger and carelessness that tainted her school years which made her understand just how cruel children could be to one another.</p><p>          Loretta silently hoped that this situation wasn’t as bad as she thought it was, that whatever was happening wouldn’t tarnish another person’s innocence nor would it scar their belief in the good of others just like it did with her. When people would do cruel things to her because of her father’s death, never caring about the painful wounds they would inflict on her in pursuit of their own pleasure at the sight of her suffering.  </p><p>          When Loretta finally made it to the pair, the girl’s teary eyes turned to her with a mixture of fear and hope.</p><p>          “P-please help him! He isn’t b-breathing.” She sobbed out, her hands fluttering over the boy’s prone form in uncertainty.</p><p>          “Calm down. I promise, I’ll help him.” Loretta replied, kneeling down next to the boy. </p><p>          She put her ear to the boy’s mouth and nose to see if he was breathing, unfortunately no air came out. She then put two fingers to the boy’s neck for ten seconds, there she found a fluttering pulse which made her relieved. Afterwards, she placed the boy on his back. </p><p>          Loretta then began chest compression and, after every third compression to the boy’s sternum, she would start to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. On her fifth time performing the chest compression, the boy began to cough out water.</p><p>          Loretta gently moved the boy on his side to help him expel the excess water coming from his lungs.  </p><p>          “There, there, just cough it all up now. You’re fine, you’re doing just fine.”</p><p>           The girl that hovered around the two of them crumpled to the ground in relief, tears sliding down her face as she smiled at her in gratitude. </p><p>          “T-thank you so much! You s-saved Sam’s life. Thank y-you!”</p><p>          Loretta smiled at the girl as she gently rubbed Sam’s back. </p><p>          “I just did what any other good Samaritan would have done in this situation.”</p><p>          The girl sniffled a bit and began to wipe her face from the tears. “S-still, thank you. I don’t want to even think about what would have happened if you weren’t there.”</p><p>          Loretta, hearing that, couldn’t help but silently agree. The thought of having to see the news headlines report ‘Teenager Drowned in Lake. The Cause? Bullies.’ made her feel sick. Sometimes, children were horrifying in their narrow mindedness and disregard they had for those they disliked or thought differently. But to think that they might be so vicious as to purposely plan the death of another person was something else entirely.</p><p>          The girl smiled tremulously at her. “My name’s Anna, by the way.”</p><p>         Loretta slowly pushed Sam upward, to sit in a more comfortable position before responding, making sure that he was fine. </p><p>          “I’m Loretta.”</p><p>         Sam groaned a little before turning his face in Anna’s direction, blurry eyes seeking out teary ones. </p><p>          “Ann . . . are you . . . okay? Jack and Thomas didn’t . . . they didn’t hurt you? Right . . . ?”</p><p>          Anna took a deep, shaky breath before replying. “I’m fine. I’m more worried about you, Sam.”</p><p>          Sam let out a grunt before turning towards Loretta. He blinked slowly at her and turned rigid, seemingly a little confused and wary at the person who was holding him up.</p><p>          “This is Loretta. She saved your life. If she wasn’t here, I . . . you weren’t breathing, Sam. I was so scared.” Anna whispered, her voice still uneasy at how close to death Sam was near. </p><p>          Sam opened his mouth then closed it. He did it once more before simply biting his lips in frustration, unable to give life to the abstract things that plagued his mind.</p><p>          Loretta felt a little uncomfortable at the scene in front of her, as if she was intruding in on something that was private. It was because of this feeling that she argued with herself about breaking the strange tension that fell over the two. It was only when Sam began to shiver from the cold breeze that passed by that her common sense began to knock on the door.</p><p>          There was a high chance that Sam could have developed a hypothermia from being in the cold water for so long as well as not breathing for sometime. There could be some serious consequences for the loss of oxygen to the brain so it would be better if she brought Sam to the hospital. Not to mention, Anna might also get sick from wearing wet clothes. It would be better to get her to her car and to change her clothes. </p><p>          Loretta cleared her throat before addressing the two teenagers in front of her. “I think that we should take Sam to the hospital to see if there are any lingering consequences from this ordeal. Not to mention, Anna should change her clothes. She might develop a fever from wearing wet clothes during this weather.”</p><p>          Sam frowned at this but held back saying anything, understanding the logic of the suggestion. However, he felt uncomfortable going to the hospital due to how inflated the situation was becoming. Meanwhile Anna nodded in agreement, relieved to be changing her clothes as well as getting treatment for Sam given the traumatic experience he had just gone through. </p><p>          “Great! We can drive to the hospital in my car. I also have some extra clothes that might fit Anna in the back of my trunk.” With that said, Loretta slowly got up and helped Sam get to his feet, Anna helping out from his other side, and all three of them began to walk back through the forest trail. Soon, they reached the parking lot and went to Loretta’s car, Anna changing into the spare clothes that Loretta had and Sam taking off some layers of his uniform before covering himself with some towels to regain some warmth in his body. Once that was done, they both sat inside the car, with Loretta behind the wheel, and drove to the hospital.  </p><p>          Unknown to them all, this encounter would change all of their lives. Whether it was for better or worse, however, is for them to find out.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <b>Loretta met Anna and Sam the day she saved Sam’s life.</b>
</p><p><em>Friends</em>, Lucia Berlin</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>